The Tambopata Research Center is located in the lowland tropical Amazon rainforest area of Peru inside the Tambopata National Park. It’s also a place where a research team believe they have discovered a new type of spider that creates larger decoy versions of itself that are made to move.

The spider was found when conservation biologist Phil Torres noticed what looked to be a dead, dried up spider in the center of a web. But as he approached it, the spider began to move, which warranted further investigation.

The spider turned out to be nothing of the sort. Instead, it was a decoy spider form constructed from forest debris. The creator was a 5mm-long spider that was sitting behind the decoy making it move when it sensed a predator nearby.

The discovery is thought to be a new species in the genus Cyclosa. Cyclosa species are already known for creating distractions or attractions from debris in their web for predators or prey to focus on. However, this is thought to be the first time a spider has created a larger, fully-formed decoy spider for protection.

So far the research team has discovered 25 of these spiders around the Tambopata Research Center. It’s unclear how widespread they actually are, but their close proximity to each other suggests they may only be a spider found locally.

Before the spider can be classed as a new species it needs to be investigated further, which means documenting every aspect of it and calling in spider experts to help determine if it is indeed new. If it is a new species, it would be the second one found this year. Back in August, a spider called Trogloraptor marchingtoni was discovered living in caves in southwestern Oregon.